David Crystal
David Crystal
David Crystal OBE FBA FLSWis a British linguist, academic and author...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionEducator
needs enjoy understood
Although many texters enjoy breaking linguistic rules, they also know they need to be understood.
people stories well-known
The story of English spelling is the story of thousands of people - some well-known, most totally unknown - who left a permanent linguistic fingerprint on our orthography.
kids research language
Research shows that those kids who text frequently are more likely to be the most literate and the best spellers, because you have to know how to manipulate language.
relief excellent swearing
Swearing makes an excellent relief mechanism
language internet mediums
The internet is an amazing medium for languages,
book fall skeletons
Word books traditionally focus on unusual and quirky items. They tend to ignore the words that provide the skeleton of the language, without which it would fall apart, such as 'and' and 'what,' or words that provide structure to our conversation, such as 'hello.
taken down-and used
You don't talk to a linguist without having what you say taken down and used in evidence against you at some point in time.
vocabulary matter building
Vocabulary is a matter of word-building as well as word-using.
impact long use
Texting has added a new dimension to language use, but its long-term impact is negligible. It is not a disaster.
kings dad years
As I get older and I get a few more years experience I become more like Dad, you know, King Lear.
different language spread
A feature of English that makes it different compared with all other languages is its global spread.
writing issues language
Anyone interested in language ends up writing about the sociological issues around it.
thinking people way
Academics don't normally manage to alter people's way of thinking through their strength of argument.
worked
It hasn't been a problem with Ben, I think we worked together very well, we don't have rows.